


Anywhere

by acidpop25



Category: Avengers Academy, New X-Men: Academy X, X-Men (Comicverse), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Gen, Implied Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-03
Updated: 2013-04-03
Packaged: 2017-12-07 08:38:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/746519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acidpop25/pseuds/acidpop25
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sooraya goes to visit Laura at Avengers Academy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anywhere

**Author's Note:**

> I started this before AvX came out; it follows canon up until that point, then diverges.

Sooraya is tired. It is not an unfamiliar feeling. In Palos Verdes, the sun is setting over the water in a blaze of red and orange and for the first time in years she doesn’t have her teammates at her side. She isn’t sure she minds.

“I was not sure you would come.”

“You asked me to,” Sooraya answers simply, and Laura makes the small, uncertain twitch of her lips that means she’s pleased.

“There is a room prepared for you in the mansion.”

“Oh.” Sooraya blinks. “I wouldn’t have minded sharing yours.”

“That is what I told Dr. Pym,” Laura agrees, “but he seemed to think you would prefer to have your own. He was... insistent.”

“All right. Will you show me where?”

“Of course.” Laura takes Sooraya’s small bag from her and leads her into the mansion. The bedroom is open and light, equipped with a bed, desk, bookshelf, and dresser. Smaller than her room with the X-Men, but still more than Sooraya really requires.

“My room is just across the hall,” Laura tells her, settling on the desk chair with her legs tucked up under her.

“You will have to introduce me to Dr. Pym so I can thank him.”

“I will. Are you hungry? Dinner begins soon.”

“I ate already. I think I would like to just rest.”

“I can leave you be.”

Sooraya smiles beneath her niqab. “It is almost time for my prayers, and for your meal. Come back after you’ve eaten, I’ll still be awake.”

* * *

When Laura returns from dinner she finds Sooraya sitting cross-legged on the bed with her head bare and a book open in her lap. It is a pose Laura had seen many times when they were roommates in Westchester; Sooraya almost always sits that way to read. There is a reassuringly unchanging quality to Sooraya, who holds on to things with such quiet tenacity– her habits, her faith, her friendships, her kindness. Laura had needed to leave the X-Men, but she could have done without having to leave Dust.

“It would have been nice if you came to the academy too,” Laura says abruptly as she reclaims the desk chair. Sooraya smiles a little, the expression soft.

“I have missed you too,” Sooraya answers. “Is that why you asked me to visit?”

“Not the only reason,” Laura admits, “but one of them. We can talk about the rest another time.”

Sooraya acquiesces peaceably, though her gaze is curious. “Tell me about the academy, then.”

Laura considers for a moment. “The teachers are flawed but have a great deal to offer nonetheless, and the mansion has all we could ask for. On the whole I find the classes interesting and more broadly applicable than the ones at the Institute, and I particularly enjoy when we have guest teachers– I like Valkyrie’s lectures very much.”

“That’s good. And the other students?” Sooraya prods, which is what she had really been asking.

“They are... more like me, I think. We do not always get along, but they do not have ideas about me like the X-Men do.”

“Sometimes I am not sure staying with them was the right thing for me to do,” Sooraya confesses. “There is... no space for me to be anything besides a mutant, and that’s not all I am.”

“You do not have to stay.”

“I know. But I don’t want to abandon my friends, either.”

Laura is quiet for a moment. “Do you think I abandoned you?”

“No,” she says immediately, “no, Laura, never. I didn’t mean that.”

“Hm.” Laura laces her fingers together, unlaces them, and again. “Why is it different?”

“You... you had to go.”

Green eyes regard her unwaveringly. “Maybe you do, also.”

* * *

“Your magic class is fascinating,” Sooraya remarks as she and Laura head to lunch the following day, “I’ve never seen a lesson like it.”  
Laura nods. “As far as I’m aware, none of us are fit for instruction in performing it, which makes it all the more important to know about. That class is occasionally somewhat disastrous, however.”

“I can imagine.”

They reach the dining room, and Sooraya sets about carefully looking over the food set out on the sideboard before helping herself to salad and pasta in a pesto sauce, opting to avoid the chicken altogether.

“I told them you keep halal,” Laura says as she gets her own lunch. “I don’t know about the meats, but there should be something suitable at all the meals.”

“Thank you,” Sooraya says gratefully, and she and Laura settle together at the table. “It could be very difficult at the Institute sometimes, but I didn’t want to be a bother.”

“Your faith is important to you,” Laura replies, frowning, “it should be respected. I do not think I believe in a God, but I am still able to understand that.”

Sooraya has a sudden impulsive desire to hug Laura, but she isn’t sure Laura would welcome being touched. “You’re a good friend,” she says instead. It feels like a terrible understatement; Laura has trouble with people, but she is unfailingly kind to Sooraya as best she knows how. She has saved Sooraya’s life, but more than that she is aware of what life _means_ to Sooraya, learns and remembers even if she doesn’t always quite understand.

Laura stares at her for a moment. “I am... trying,” she says carefully, without inflection, and then applies herself to her lunch instead of conversation. 

Sooraya isn’t quite sure what she said wrong.

* * *

Sooraya knocks at Laura’s door after her evening prayers, and when she comes in she finds Laura lying flat on the bed with her claws out, clicking them together in a mindless metallic rhythm as she stares up at the ceiling.

“Is something wrong?” Sooraya ventures, and perches on the edge of the bed next to Laura’s hip.

“No. Thinking.” Laura frowns faintly and sheathes her claws, absently licks away the drops of blood left once her skin knits itself back together. “The Avengers have offered me a place on the team.”

“And that is... bad?”

“Not bad. Maybe not what I want.”

“I’m sure they’ll understand if you refuse.”

“No one understands a weapon refusing to be wielded.”

“You are not a weapon anymore,” Sooraya says quietly, at length, “you’re the warrior, now.”

Laura sits up, and there’s an unfamiliar look in her green eyes, tumult under the calm. “May I hug you, Sooraya?” she asks, voice even in a sort of studied, deliberate way. Sooraya finds herself lacking words altogether; she simply nods and lets Laura fold strong arms around her. Laura is all hard-packed muscle beneath her skin when Sooraya hugs her back, but she is gentle, aware of her strength, and ducks her head against Sooraya’s shoulder. She still smells faintly of blood and metal over the warmer scent of skin.

“Why do you stay on Utopia?”

Sooraya is quiet for a moment. “I want to do good.”

“You do not have to stay there for that.”

She leans back to meet Laura’s eyes. “Do you want me to leave?”

“Yes,” Laura answers immediately. “I know that is selfish of me.”

“You’re allowed to want things, Laura,” Sooraya replies, “and you’re allowed to say so. You don’t do that often.”

“I am not used to it.”

“I know.” 

Laura twitches her fingers. “I have homework due tomorrow, but would you stay here?”

Sooraya smiles, even though it only shows at the corners of her eyes. “I said before that sharing your room would have been fine with me, didn’t I? Just let me get something to keep myself busy while you work.”

When she returns, Laura has settled against the headboard of her bed with a notebook open next to her and a laptop on her legs, fingers tapping at the keys. Sooraya shuts the door behind her and pulls off her niqab, then curls up by Laura’s feet with a book. They sit together quietly, absorbed in their own pursuits as night falls.

When Laura finally looks up from her essay, Sooraya has nodded off with her back leaned against the wall and her head bowed forward. Laura sets her things aside and slides Sooraya’s book from her lax fingers and marks the page before she puts it on the nightstand. Sooraya doesn’t stir. Laura looks at her for a long moment, then slides silently to her feet to get ready for bed. When she returns, she nudges Sooraya slightly and guides her down as she tips over sideways to the mattress. She must be tired– Sooraya is not usually such a heavy sleeper– so Laura leaves her be and lies down next to her. It’s pleasant, actually; Sooraya radiates warmth and smells familiar, and Laura quickly falls asleep.

* * *

When Laura’s alarm goes off, Sooraya is already awake, lying on her side propped up by one arm. Laura fumbles for the snooze button and turns over with a grumble.

“You didn’t wake me,” Sooraya says, rather unnecessarily. Laura cracks one eye back open.

“Should I have?”

“It’s your bed, Laura. You didn’t have to let me stay.”

“You were tired. I did not mind.”

Sooraya stares at her for a moment, unblinking, before at last she seems to relent and sits up. “All right. Thank you.”

“Anytime,” Laura answers, sleepily but sincerely. Sooraya’s lips twitch into a smile; she smiles often, really, but usually with her mouth hidden under her niqab. Most of the time, Laura has to read Sooraya’s expressions from the corners of her eyes instead of the rest of her face.

“I should go change. Don’t oversleep your class.” Sooraya dissolves into sand with a soft whoosh and arcs up over Laura and out under the door rather than having to clamber over her. Laura watches her go with a smile hidden by her pillow, then drops back to sleep.

* * *

“What if we both leave?” Sooraya asks, apropos of nothing. She and Laura are sitting side by side in the grass, and Sooraya is still staring out at the darkening sky overhead.

“And go where?”

“Anywhere. Somewhere new. A big enough city for us to be useful.”

Laura considers this. “There is a significant superhero presence on both coasts already. Most interior cities will not welcome a Muslim mutant. Chicago, maybe.”

“I’ve never been there.”

“Nor have I. A point in its favor, I think.” Laura looks over at her. “Would you really want to leave with me?”

“I–” Sooraya begins, then swallows whatever she was about to say. She reaches a hand out, instead, and laces her fingers carefully with Laura’s. “Cyclops won’t like it.”

Laura scoffs. “Cyclops.”

Sooraya bites back a smile; she shouldn’t be amused. “Not that he gets a say in the matter, really. I just... feel like I owe the X-Men. They got me out of a very dangerous situation.”

“And they’ve put you _in_ plenty more,” Laura points out reasonably. “I think you’re probably even.”

“Probably.” She lies back on the grass, still holding Laura’s hand. “I missed this. Being around you.”

“So did I.” Laura leans over Sooraya to meet her eyes, face serious but voice oddly gentle. “I think I’m better when you’re here. Certainly... certainly happier.” It sounds like a foreign word on Laura’s lips, even still. The corners of Sooraya’s eyes don’t crinkle up; she isn’t smiling, but what’s visible of her expression is warm, and she squeezes Laura’s hand.

“If you decide to go,” Sooraya says simply, “I’ll go with you.”


End file.
